RUSSO (Host Intro): Criticism of the presence of ICE officials is not just happening in Minneapolis, it's happening all across the nation. I'm Bryan Russo. Here in Salisbury, MD, ICE claims that it isn't targeting schools, but that appears to contradict the fact that a mother was recently detained outside Pinehurst Elementary, and as Delmarva Public Media's Kevin Diaz discovered, there was another close encounter this week that is raising more questions than answers.
DIAZ: Laurel Kelly had just sent her 14-year-old and 11-year-old daughters off to middle school Tuesday morning when she got a text back from their school bus stop on Pemberton Drive.
KELLY: She texted me, she said "that was ICE Mama", and so I tried to call her right back, but she couldn't hear me on the bus, so she didn't take my call, but I immediately ran out the door and walked my high schoolers to the same bus stop.
DIAZ: Kelly immediately threw on some warm clothes and went out to investigate. What she saw, alarmed her.
KELLY: With blue lights, and I saw maybe six or eight agents that said they had vests. They looked all kind of different, but they all had these big, bulky vests that said police ICE on them.
DIAZ: The next thing she saw disturbed her even more. Her two high schoolers, ages 15 and 18, were also getting ready to get on their bus with their classmates, but some turned away in fear.
KELLY: [There were] only two white kids who get on the bus for the high schools that are all different nationalities. There are people of color, there are Haitian immigrants, there are Latinos. They're all at this bus, which is the reason why I stayed there until they all got on. And my daughter said that she noticed that there were kids who were kind of walking up on this grassy area, and as soon as they saw ICE agents, they just turned around and left.
DIAZ: Part of the answer came Wednesday from the sheriff's office. An agent on foot at the scene was struck by a hit and run driver as ICE was conducting an as yet undetermined operation. The driver has been identified and the Sheriff's office said the incident appears to have been completely unrelated to the ICE activity at the scene. But for Kelly and the community at large, that still leaves unanswered the question of what ICE was doing in the vicinity of a school bus stop at a time when students were waiting for their school buses.
KELLY: It's pretty terrifying, especially because they hear things that are going on. We listen to NPR News in the morning and all the time at home, and they can hear what's happening in Minnesota. And so it's just pretty upsetting, and I don't want them to be in danger. I know that in Minnesota, ICE was in schools and they've taken a parent from Pinehurst Elementary down here.
DIAZ: How far is this from your house?
KELLY: I had to walk over there so I could see. When I walked out my front door, and I live in a community [where] we're kind of on the other side of the house where they parked the car... and then there's a fence. We're in that little community, so I had to walk around, but when I walked out my front door when I was walking with my oldest daughter, I could see the light bouncing off of the fences so I could see that there was still things happening, but I can't see the bus stop from my house. It's right off of Pemberton. It's basically right across the street from Pemberton Elementary. And there's another bus stop there for the high school buses and the middle school buses, and even the elementary school buses, because even the bus that goes to Pemberton, they'll pick up kids at these two bus stops and then keep going.
DIAZ: An ICE agent in Salisbury said nobody was detained in the operation but declined to release further details. A call to an ice spokesperson in Baltimore went unanswered on Wednesday. For Delmarva Public Media, this is Kevin Diaz.
